The Hiding Place by Trezza Azzopardi

1948, Tiger Bay, Cardiff. A Maltese immigrant named Frankie Gauci steps off the Callisto clutching his sole possessions--a cardboard suitcase and his father's lucky ruby ring. In no time at all he and his new friend Salvatore open The Moonlight Cafe, and he marries the beautiful Mary. Everything is perfect until he begins to gamble. Before long Frankie accumulates a mass of debts and five daughters. But, on the day his sixth daughter, Dolores, is born, Frankie's luck runs out. Soon, everybody is hiding: Frankie from his debts, Mary from the rent collector, the daughters from their father, and Dolores in a seaman's chest, out of Frankie's sight. A haunting portrayal of the Welsh underworld during the sixties. Through Dolores' eyes, we see the story of six sisters struggling to survive in a world where the sins of the father are visited upon the daughters--and where secrets , once brought to light, can destroy an entire family.

Trezza Azzopardi, 2000

Paperback, Very Good

282 pages

364g

21 x 13 x 2 cm